Springtime, red and gold leaves
forming,Summer shimmer, new day dawning,Chilly sunlit winter
morningIn this land we love.Woodlands of mopani
trees,Wafts of bushveld fragrances,So many cherished
memoriesOf this land we love.Vibrant sunsets, colours
glowing,Season starting, new crops sowing,Winter wheat, green
carpet growingIn this land we love.Paddocks fenced, new pastures
plantedGrateful for all God has granted,Each new day we feel
enchantedBy this land we love.Inputs soaring, crop price
diving,Droughts and hailstorms still surviving,Some years
struggle, some years thrivingOn this land we love.Heritage of
years destroyed,Homes burnt down of those employedOn farms where
peace was once enjoyedIn this land we love.Women raped, men
tortured, dying,Widows by their dead are crying,Justice ousted
by the lyingIn this land we love.Husbands, wives, who
terrified,Family members have denied,Distanced now from those
who criedOut for this land we love.Madness reigning for a
season,Huge trees felled for no good reason,Acts of vandalism,
treason,Against this land we love.Rhino, kudu, leopard,
sable,Poached and trapped with cruel cable,To cause havoc, man
so ableIn this land we love.Pray for peace again
prevailing,Goodness, justice, mercy reigning,Black and white,
united, prayingFor this land we love.May God grant a new
beginningMen of strength and vision bringingBack a future, all
men winningIn this land we love.

Zimbabwe's Mugabe denies pledging to end land grabBINDURA, Zimbabwe, Aug 3
(Reuters) - Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe on
Thursday denied promising to remove war
veterans illegally occupying
white-owned farms and said he
planned to take more than 3,000
farms from whites for black
resettlement.

Mugabe told the black Zimbabwe
Farmers Union in Bindura, north
of the capital Harare, that he
would not bow to international
pressure and told donors who
have suspended aid to his
country that he did not want their
money.

"We are now in the process of
settling people and have identified
the slightly more than 3,000
farms we shall gazette and
acquire. The war vets will stay on
all the farms until we resettle
them," he said.

"The donors can stay with their
money. We will not give up our
land because of what the donors
say."

He denied saying at a news
conference with visiting South
African President Thabo Mbeki on
Wednesday that he would have
war veterans removed from farms.
"I didn't say war veterans should
be removed," he said.

President Robert Mugabe has backtracked on a promise to remove ruling party
militants and other violent squatters from Zimbabwe's white-owned
farms.

He told a meeting of black farmers that his government will not
force militants, led by veterans of the bush war that ended white rule in 1980,
off some 1,600 farms they have illegally occupied since February, the official
Zimbabwe news agency has reported.

The president's remarks to the meeting
in the northeastern town of Bindura, 50 miles from Harare, sharply contradicted
a statement by him on Wednesday that illegal occupiers will be reined in and
shifted to state land by the end of the month. The agency said Mugabe claimed
his earlier statement was misunderstood by the media, including the
state-controlled Herald which reported it in full.

"What I said was that
we have acquired just over 3,000 farms. I said on some of those farms there are
already some war veterans. We will leave the war veterans that are already
there," Mugabe said, according to the agency.

Mugabe, 76, appearing
stooped and dazed at a news conference in Harare on Wednesday for local and
foreign media organisations, did not make any such references.

The
government said for the first time on Tuesday it has targeted 3,000 farms for
confiscation but admitted no more than 200 were chosen for seizure as state land
in coming weeks.

The government has given no details of the names and
locations or the identity of the owners of nearly 2,250 farms it says it wants
to hand over to landless blacks.

The Commercial Farmers Union said
without that information it was not able to collate which of those properties
were occupied by illegal squatters that Mugabe now indicated would be allowed to
stay where they are.

Even under land laws passed by the ruling party in
April empowering the government to seize land without paying for it, farmers
were guaranteed rights to lodge objections and claim compensation for buildings,
dams, irrigation and other improvements.

Any new seizures are expected to
take several months and it is considered virtually impossible for the heavily
indebted government to implement any massively expanded confiscation programme
or transport thousands of impoverished families to seized farms, the union
said.

The Zimbabwean President, Robert Mugabe,
has said that the invasion of white-owned farms by war veterans and other
government supporters will end by the end of the month. It is the first time Mr
Mugabe has set a date for ending the often-violent occupations which his critics
say have seriously damaged Zimbabwe's agriculture-based economy. The statement
came on the day of a widely-observed general strike called by trade unions and
commercial farmers seeking an end to lawlessness in Zimbabwe. Mr Mugabe made his
announcement at a news conference after talks with his South African
counterpart, Thabo Mbeki.

A BBC correspondent in Zimbabwe, Joseph
Winter, says it may be the price paid for South Africa's help in getting foreign
donors to resume aid to Zimbabwe. Mr Mugabe said that the government would have
acquired enough land by the end of the month for the veterans and others to move
on to. He said land not acquired by then would be vacated. The so-called
veterans, who have occupied hundreds of white-owned
farms in the past few months, have previously been told to leave by government ministers and even the vice-president. But they have
responded that they only obey orders coming from Mr Mugabe. Expanding on the president's comments, the new Agriculture
Minister, Joseph Made, told the BBC that within the next month the government
would acquire around 400 farms and these would be sufficient to resettle those
who have been occupying farms countrywide. It was not clear how this affected
plans announced by the government on Monday to seize more than 3,000 farms for
redistribution.

The CFU, which represents white farmers,
went to court on Wednesday to challenge the way the way the redistribution
process was being handled. "We are not seeking to obstruct the land
redistribution process because we know that a proper scheme is essential for the
country's social and economic stability," said the CFU director, David Hasluck.
Speaking before Mr Mugabe's announcement, the ZCTU described the strike as
highly successful and said that 90% of workers had heeded its call to stay away.
In the capital, Harare, and in towns across the country most shops and factories
remained closed, and all but essential work ceased on white-owned farms. By
noon, usually bustling car parks and street markets in Harare were virtually
deserted. However state-run media described the stoppage as a flop.

Correspondents say that support for the
strike in Zimbabwe's urban areas reflected profound dissatisfaction with
President Mugabe's government, as indicated by recent elections results. On
commercial farms, the strike was even more widely observed, with only essential
tasks like milking still carried out. Groups of self-styled war veterans, some
of them armed, did visit some white-owned farms to tell those who participated
in the strike that they would be prevented from resuming operations. The strike
was originally due to have lasted three days, but was scaled down at the last
minute, allegedly to give the government a chance to respond.

From News24 (SA), 3 August

Mugabe to remove squatters

Harare - Under mounting pressure at home
and from neighbouring South Africa, Zimbabwe's president promised on Wednesday
to remove his party militants from white-owned farms they have occupied for six
months. A one-day general strike protesting a breakdown in law and order shut
down the economy on Wednesday while the embattled President Robert Mugabe met
with South Africa's President Thabo Mbeki in Harare. After their talks, Mugabe,
76, stooped and weary, promised for the first time to end illegal land
occupations he has backed since they began in February.

Mugabe said the occupiers would be removed
by the end of August from white farms not slated to be confiscated under a
national land distribution plan. The occupiers, who have seized around 1 600
white-owned properties, would be taken to farms that are due to be nationalised.
"Certainly within this month we will have concluded the exercise," Mugabe told
reporters. A one-day general strike shut down factories, farms, banks and shops
across the country to protest the breakdown of order in the country. It was
called by the main labour federation, the opposition MDC and the CFU,
representing about 4 000 white farmers.

Mbeki's visit also pressured Mugabe to
restore law and order, as South African officials worried that Zimbabwe's
instability could spill over in the region. "We will swim together or sink
together," said South African Finance Minister Trevor Manuel. Dangling the
prospect of South African economic aid, Manuel said the two countries discussed
"rewards for the tough decisions Zimbabwe has to make" to rebuild its crumbling
economy and restore confidence in beleaguered agriculture, tourism and
investment activities. He did not elaborate.

Throughout Zimbabwe, workers stayed away
from their jobs on Wednesday, shutting down business and industry, and the white
farmers union said most of its members stopped all but milking and other
essential work. In Harare, some stores opened briefly, but supermarkets and
banks remained closed after staff failed to show up, managers said. "Everyone
around us is out, so we are closing, too," said Ian Sibanda, a furniture store manager. "Let's hope the government
sees people are serious about this."

From The Daily Telegraph (UK), 3
August

Protest strike halts
Zimbabwe

Harare – Zimbabwe’s town centres fell silent yesterday as a
general strike called in protest at the "breakdown of law and order", joined by
white farmers for the first time, paralysed the economy. Factories closed, shops
were shut and streets emptied of traffic. The usually bustling bus stations were
silent and Harare's main shopping areas empty. The ZCTU claimed that 90 per cent
of the workforce had joined the strike, although government departments were
largely unaffected and most schools and hospitals continued as normal. The CFU
confirmed that virtually all of the 4,000 white farmers in every province had
joined the protest, even as squatters, who sparked the closure by illegally
occupying 1,600 properties and mounting a terror campaign against President
Robert Mugabe's opponents, singled out striking landowners for a new wave of
intimidation. Riot police armed with batons and tear gas were deployed in
strategic positions around Harare and a military helicopter flew overhead,
although no violence was reported.

Nicholas Mudzengerere, acting secretary-general of the
congress, said: "I am very pleased by the response to the stayaway. We are
waiting for the government to reply to our demands and guarantee a return to law
and order." Mr Mudzengerere said the congress's general council would meet on
Saturday, adding: "If the government does not respond, I cannot rule out another
stayaway." In Harare's black townships, Mbare and Highfield, streets were filled
with striking workers enjoying an extra day off. Moses Sibanda, a bank clerk,
was clear about the purpose of the protest. He said: "We have got to stop those
guys on the farms from beating people. All the time, they are beating people and
the government does nothing. We support the white farmers because our entire
economy comes from them."

Fields in Zimbabwe's agricultural heartland were deserted as
many farmers defied intimidation to join the strike. Squatters in the Karoi
area, 150 miles north west of Harare, issued dozens of threats. A farmer said:
"They are telling us, 'You've closed now, so you're closed for ever. We will
take your farm.' They've told our workers never to come to work again if they
down tools today." Paul Stidolph was trapped by a mob of 40 armed with clubs and
axes at the gates of his Grand Parade farm. He said: "I told them I was joining
the stayaway and they shouted, 'You are an enemy of the government. We've been
ordered to take your farm'." Only a rescue mission by neighbouring farmers, who
have formed a rapid reaction unit and use a light aircraft to track the
squatters, drove away the gang and saved Mr Stidolph. He said: "It's exactly
this sort of intimidation and harassment that we want to stop. I'm all for this
stoppage because it's the only way to make that point." Other farmers paid a
heavy price for their determination to join the strike. Irvine Reid, whose
Calgary farm has been occupied by 14 men he believes to be police and army
officers, was ordered to leave his property. He said: "The first question they
asked was 'Is the farm working today?' Then they told me to go or else." Mr Reid
and his family fled for the safety of Harare. Jack Callow fled from his Maryvale
farm after being threatened by a mob of 12 who screamed: "We want the whites out
of Zimbabwe. You whites must go."

After a meeting with President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa
yesterday, Mr Mugabe injected more uncertainty into the farm crisis. He repeated
promises by ministers that squatters would be removed from farms that have not
been listed for resettlement, despite failing to enforce previous pledges of a
return to normality on Zimbabwe's white-owned farms. Mr Mugabe said: "We will be
removing the war veterans from the farms we are not resettling." Asked when this
would happen, he replied: "Within the next month." Past performance means few
landowners will take comfort from his latest comment.

From The Star (SA), 3 August

Mugabe assures Mbeki land-grab will end
soon

Harare - Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe
has assured President Thabo Mbeki that the farm invasions by self-styled war
veterans will stop before the end of this month, SA government sources said on
Wednesday night. The embattled Mugabe gave the assurance to Mbeki during a
high-level meeting between the two countries in Harare on Wednesday. "Mugabe
said his government would act against war veterans by settling them on farms
that the state would have acquired mainly from white farmers. "Those who had
invaded farms which had not been earmarked for the land resettlement programme
would be moved out,'' said a senior government official who was at the
talks.

The two leaders also agreed on a strategy
to restore international confidence in Zimbabwe. In
terms of this plan, Zimbabwe would restore the rule of law and adjust its
policies accordingly, as displayed by its willingness to devalue the Zimbabwean
dollar earlier this week. The two leaders also discussed the situation in the
war-torn DRC. Mbeki is believed to have impressed on Mugabe the need to
facilitate the deployment of a United Nations peacekeeping force in the DRC. The
United Nations peace mission would pave the way for the withdrawal of the
foreign troops. Zimbabwe, Angola and Namibia are backing DRC President Laurent
Kabila, while Uganda and Rwanda are aiding rebels trying to topple
Kabila.

"The president (Mbeki) is confident that
Mugabe can turn the situation around. He is now surrounded by a new cabinet
which has a new vision for the country. There is no reason for the international
community to panic,'' said the source. Authoritative sources said Mbeki had told
Mugabe that South Africa's efforts to mobilise the international community to
return to Zimbabwe were being hampered by the continued violence and occupation
of commercial farms. Mbeki advised him that the land reform exercise should be
implemented in an orderly manner. Mbeki told Mugabe that South Africa was likely
to succeed in convincing international donors to
assist Zimbabwe if the country returned to the rule of law, said one source,
adding that Mbeki had said donors he had spoken to during his recent visit to
Sweden were all willing to assist Zimbabwe if the country implemented land
redistribution appropriately.

Officials said Mbeki had also told Mugabe
that Norway and Saudi Arabia, the two countries the South African president had
recently managed to coax into supporting Zimbabwe's land reform programme, had
decided to withhold their assistance until order returned to the farms. Mbeki
has been under fire for his failure to condemn the illegal land invasions and
the lawlessness in Zimbabwe. The two leaders first met on their own before they
joined an enlarged meeting including ministers. The Financial Gazette newspaper
reported on Wednesday that Mugabe had been going behind his cabinet's back,
telling war veterans to remain on the farms and to ignore his ministers who had
been urging them to vacate the farms.

From The Daily News, 2
August

Banana in town

THE most famous convict in the country, the former President of
Zimbabwe, Canaan Sodindo Banana, took a brisk midday walk-about in the centre of
Harare yesterday 220km from the prison where he is serving a 12-month sentence.
Banana, convicted of sodomy, calmly conducted private financial business with
the chief executive of the Commercial Bank of Zimbabwe, Gideon Gono, in the
latter's office in Union Avenue. Wearing his trademark Mao-style royal blue suit
and sporting a blue denim peaked baseball cap, the former President was upbeat
and effervescent as he spoke to The Daily News after his 15-minute meeting with
Gono. Asked when he had been released from Connemara Prison near Kwekwe where he
is serving one year for sodomy, Banana said: "No, I have not been released. I am
still inside. I have only come to Harare to get my medicines. You know I am on
medication. This is what they call open prison."

Emerging from his office, Gono acknowledged the presence of The Daily News
crew before shaking hands and bidding farewell to the jailed former Methodist
minister. There was no armed or uniformed prison warden guarding Banana. He left
the bank through the back entrance, accompanied by a man in civilian clothes.
Banana said he would be pleased to grant The Daily News an in-depth interview at
Connemara Prison about how he is coping with life in jail. He was convicted by
the High Court in January last year on 11 counts of sexual assault and sodomy
committed while he was ceremonial president. He appealed to the Supreme Court
against conviction and sentence, but in May this year, the Supreme Court upheld
the conviction and sentence. He was also ordered to pay $250 000 to Jefta Dube,
his former aide-de-camp who he
sodomised.

Perhaps it was
desperation at the continued harassment, or
perhaps it was a misplaced confidence after
the stinging
rebuke Zimbabwe's voters delivered to their desperate president. But
three weeks
ago a few dozen white farmers hit back against the government
and went on
strike.

Even before their
protest culminated in yesterday's widely respected
nationwide
general strike to demand the restoration of the rule of law, many farmers
had cause for
regret. Robert Mugabe responded to the defiance in his favoured
manner - he
focussed his ire on the whites and greatly raised the stakes.

The government's
announcement that it will now seize about
two-thirds of all white-owned farmland threatens
to bring
Zimbabwe's burgeoning crisis to a head within weeks.

Just a few days ago,
Zimbabweans were debating whether Mr Mugabe
would run for
another term as president in two years or step aside for a younger
candidate in the hope of reviving Zanu-PF's
popularity. Now the debate is over whether
Zimbabwe's
economy can survive Mr Mugabe's rule, however short it might
be.

The original core of
a few dozen white farmers went on strike last
month in
protest at the continued occupation of their land by "war veterans"
and
escalating violence. Even the government said the occupations should
stop in favour of a more orderly
distribution.

Dozens of other
farmers across the country joined the protest
which forced
the hand of the unions and the main opposition party, the Movement
for
Democratic Change. They were not only bound to support the strike
but had to be
seen to organise it.

But the evident role
of whites in promoting the protest further angered Mr
Mugabe, whose
government hit back by quadrupling the number of
farms facing
confiscation to 3,000. While the farm seizures might strengthen Mr
Mugabe's
political control in the short term, ultimately they look
disastrous for his country's economy and damaging
for the
government.

The earmarked land
produces a good proportion of the country's
agricultural
exports. Tobacco earned Zimbabwe about £250m last year but revenues
are expected
to drop by at least one-fifth this year. Manufacturers are
warning of large scale redundancies. Already
there is talk
of a looming food shortage.

Neither will the
chaos of the land distribution help Mr Mugabe.
Whether there
are 500,000 families who want to move, as the government says,
is a moot
point.

While Zimbabwean
farms are large - the 3,000 earmarked for
redistribution cover nearly 20,000 square miles -
much of the
land is of poor quality or barren. If the farms are subdivided into
hundreds of
thousands of small plots, some are going to be left with the
scraps.

And, although the
recent changes to the constitution permit the
confiscation of farms without compensation,
there is still an established process of
notification and appeal to be
followed.

The government has
already completed the procedure for the original
804 farms but
if, as it says, it wants to seize the additional land before the
rains in a few weeks it will have to ride
roughshod over its own regulations and defy
the courts.

Strike brings Zimbabwe's cities to a haltChris
McGreal in Harare and Andrew Meldrum in Norton Thursday August 3, 2000 (The
Guardian)

A general strike shut down
all of Zimbabwe's
major cities yesterday in protest at the government's
arbitrary
application of the rule of law as President Robert Mugabe insisted that he
will press ahead
with the wholesale confiscation of white-owned farms.

The widespread support
for the strike
called by Zimbabwe's trade union confederation, and backed by the
main political
opposition party and farmers, was a further demonstration of
disillusionment
with the government a day after a one-third devaluation of the
national
currency.

Zimbabwe is facing its
worst economic
crisis since independence 20 year ago.

Many township residents
are also angered
at the deployment of the army in poor neighbourhoods where soldiers
regularly beat
presumed opposition supporters.

South Africa's president,
Thabo Mbeki,
added to the pressure on Mr Mugabe at a summit in Harare yesterday. South
Africa is deeply
worried about the cross-border impact of its neighbour's crisis.
Mr Mbeki said he
rejected a request for a meeting from Morgan Tsvangirai, the leader
of the opposition
Movement for Democratic Change.

The Zimbabwean
government's decision this week to quadruple the amount
of white-owned
farm land targeted for redistribution, and the severe
economic
consequences if it happens, will do nothing to bolster international
confidence in the
region. The South African rand was driven down further yesterday by
the devaluation
of the Zimbabwean dollar.

Mr Mugabe said yesterday
that his
government would press ahead with the expropriations but said war
veterans would be
removed from any farms not on the list for confiscation.

"There is a process now
going on of
acquiring land in accordance with the law, and in the context of that
acquisition we
will then be resettling those in need of land _ we will be removing all war
veterans from the
rest of the farms," he said.

Riot police were deployed
in many parts of
Harare yesterday to prevent anti-government demonstrations but
there were no
reports of violence. Most people stayed at home as the strike
closed almost all
factories, banks and large businesses although some
smaller
establishments opened. Harare's streets were largely deserted but some
people took
advantage of the day off work to join the long queues for fuel. Even
those who might
have wanted to go to work could not because public transport shut
down.

Many schools were shut.
Where teachers
did go to work, some parents kept their children at home for fear of
violence. The
university closed after lecturers and students joined the
protest.

Hopewell Gumpo, president
of the national
students union, said: "We condemn the heavy-handedness of the police and
the army in parts
of Harare. We demand among other issues a transparent
land
redistribution programme to the landless in a peaceful and orderly
manner."

Even some civil servants
defied the
implicit threat of dismissal and heeded the strike call, although one finance
ministry worker
enjoying the day in a Harare park said he intended to tell his boss
he had tried to
come to work but was threatened by strikers.

At least one white farmer
who joined the
strike had his property seized by war veterans as a punishment. But that
did not
discourage many others, including Jim Sinclair in Serui Source 45 miles
south of Harare,
from joining the protest and telling his labourers to take the day
off.

"We must feed our pigs,
because pigs
don't know about strikes, but otherwise we have shut everything down. All
the farmers have
shut down to protest the lawlessness throughout the
country.

"We need to get a message
across that this
country cannot go on like this. We are at one, my employees and
myself. We have
suffered work interruptions, invasions, threats of violence.
We've had
enough," he said.

The day before the
strike, one of Mr
Sinclair's neighbours was threatened by a group of armed supporters of Mr
Mugabe.

They forced him to sign
away his farm and
told him to leave his home.

Mr Sinclair expects the
Mugabe government
will "take some form of action to punish us for participating in
this strike. But
I believe we still have to do it and we may have to do it again. We need
to impress that
violence cannot be used to run our country".

-Zimbabwe's white farmers
went to the
supreme court yesterday to try to halt the seizure of more than 3,000 farms
for
redistribution.

Factories, farms and businesses across Zimbabwe
shut down on Wednesday as the vast
majority of Zimbabwe's 1.4m
workers observed the one-day strike called by the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions.

Union officials claimed 80-90 per cent
support for the stoppage, but
government offices and institutions were open, as were many small businesses. Large companies and the country's main
manufacturing industries were
closed, along with the banks and leading supermarkets and retailers.

The stay-away was peaceful, with few
reports of violence or intimidation. The strike was called by the ZCTU, with the support of
the Commercial Farmers' Union, in
protest at the breakdown of law and order in Zimbabwe in urban areas as well as on commercial farms.

Well supported though it was, the stoppage
is unlikely to influence government
policy. The best hope white farmers now have of reversing the government's
plans to take over 3,100
white-owned commercial farms covering 5m hectares seems to be pressure from South Africa.

Farmers and business leaders are waiting
anxiously to see whether President
Robert Mugabe will soften his stance on land expropriation without
compensation, following Wednesday's
discussions in Harare with President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa and senior South African cabinet
ministers.

Western governments and foreign investors
in southern Africa hope Mr Mbeki is
pressing Mr Mugabe in private to restore the rule of law in Zimbabwe.

So far, however, Mr Mbeki has refused to
criticise Mr Mugabe in public, and the Pretoria government has even held out the
possibility of loans to prop up the
economy.

Mr Mugabe said on Wednesday that the war
veterans illegally occupying
white-owned farms would be removed by the end of the month.

However, observers said it was doubtful how
he would honour this pledge. He has
said in the past that he will not use the army to remove the veterans
from occupied land.

The best news the country's beleaguered
4,500 white commercial farmers have
had for some time was Tuesday's decision to devalue the Zimbabwe dollar
by almost 25 per cent to Z$50 to
the US unit from Z$38 previously.

The devaluation has been welcomed by
businessmen and the tobacco industry, though some economists believe that the government
should have gone further and tried
to eliminate the free-market premium altogether.

Foreign exchange dealers said they expected
the free-market rate, which had
been as high as Z$68 to the US dollar, to narrow, perhaps to about Z$60.

This would leave a 20 per cent premium at
the new official rate, according to
some stock brokers.

The opposition Movement for Democratic
Change welcomed the devaluation, but warned that the "overdue" adjustment did not go far
enough to give the country a
competitive real exchange rate.

Economists said that, while devaluation had
lowered the trade-weighted real
effective exchange rate, making Zimbabwe's exports more competitive, the
real rate was still 20 per cent
higher than it was at the end of last year and nearly double its levels of January 1999.

Bankers say a further downward adjustment
is inevitable and could come within
two months. Much will depend on supplementary measures to be announced soon by Simba Makoni, finance
minister.

The main beneficiaries will be the tobacco
and gold sectors. Other exporters,
including the tourist sector, had been selling currency earnings at the
free-market rate and could be
temporarily worse off if, as dealers predict, the free-market premium declines over the next few weeks.

Economists are unanimous in predicting a
sharp increase in the inflation rate. Zimbabwe imports all its petroleum and 40 per cent
of its electricity. These increased
costs will have to be passed on to the consumer.

One bank economist expects devaluation to
add some 8 per cent to consumer
prices over the next two to three months, which, with second-round effects and
the worsening shortages partly
caused by the land crisis, would push inflation above 70 per cent by September.

Protest strike halts ZimbabweBy David Blair in
Harare (The Telegraph) ZIMBABWE'S town
centres fell silent yesterday as a general strike called in protest at the "breakdown of law and order", joined by
white farmers for the first time,
paralysed the economy.

Factories closed, shops were shut and
streets emptied of traffic. The
usually bustling bus stations were
silent and Harare's main shopping areas empty. The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions claimed that 90 per cent of the workforce
had joined the strike, although
government departments were largely
unaffected and most schools and
hospitals continued as normal.

The Commercial Farmers' Union confirmed
that virtually all of the 4,000 white
farmers in every province had joined
the protest, even as squatters, who
sparked the closure by illegally occupying 1,600 properties and mounting a terror campaign against President Robert Mugabe's opponents,
singled out striking landowners for a
new wave of intimidation.

Riot police armed with batons and tear gas
were deployed in strategic positions
around Harare and a military helicopter flew overhead, although no violence was reported.

Nicholas Mudzengerere, acting
secretary-general of the congress, said: "I am very pleased by the response to the stayaway. We are
waiting for the government to reply to
our demands and guarantee a return to law and order." Mr Mudzengerere said the congress's general
council would meet on Saturday,
adding: "If the government does not respond, I cannot rule out another stayaway."

In Harare's black townships, Mbare and
Highfield, streets were filled with
striking workers enjoying an extra day off. Moses Sibanda, a bank clerk,
was clear about the purpose of the
protest. He said: "We have got to stop those guys on the farms from beating people. All the time,
they are beating people and the
government does nothing. We support the white farmers because our entire economy comes from them."

Fields in Zimbabwe's agricultural heartland
were deserted as many farmers defied
intimidation to join the strike. Squatters in the Karoi area, 150 miles north west of Harare, issued dozens of
threats. A farmer said: "They are
telling us, 'You've closed now, so you're closed for ever. We will take
your farm.' They've told our workers
never to come to work again if they down tools today."

Paul Stidolph was trapped by a mob of 40 armed
with clubs and axes at the gates of
his Grand Parade farm. He said: "I told them I was joining the stayaway and they shouted, 'You are an enemy of the
government. We've been ordered to take
your farm'."

Only a rescue mission by neighbouring farmers,
who have formed a rapid reaction unit
and use a light aircraft to track the squatters, drove away the gang and saved Mr Stidolph. He said: "It's exactly this
sort of intimidation and harassment
that we want to stop. I'm all for this stoppage because it's the only way to make that point."

Other farmers paid a heavy price for their
determination to join the strike.
Irvine Reid, whose Calgary farm has been occupied by 14 men he believes
to be police and army officers, was
ordered to leave his property. He said: "The first question they asked was 'Is the farm working
today?' Then they told me to go or
else." Mr Reid and his family fled for the safety of Harare. Jack Callow fled from his Naryvale farm after
being threatened by a mob of 12 who
screamed: "We want the whites out of Zimbabwe. You whites must go."

After a meeting with President Thabo Mbeki of
South Africa yesterday, Mr Mugabe
injected more uncertainty into the farm crisis. He repeated promises by ministers that squatters would be removed
from farms that have not been listed
for resettlement, despite failing to enforce previous pledges of a return to normality on Zimbabwe's white-owned
farms.

Mr Mugabe said: "We will be removing the war
veterans from the farms we are not
resettling." Asked when this would happen, he replied: "Within the next month." Past performance means few
landowners will take comfort from his
latest comment.

Clipboard soldiers tour farms(The Telegraph) HUNDREDS of bemused white farmers, wearily
accustomed to invasion by axe-waving
mobs, have had a new kind of visitor. Small groups of polite soldiers, armed only with clipboards, have been touring
farms on seemingly innocent
fact-finding missions.

Most white landowners in Mashonaland have
received a delegation of army
officers. Lindsay Campbell, a farmer's wife from Marondera, was visited by
a smiling captain and two junior
soldiers. She said: "They were very pleasant, very courteous, not in the least bit
hostile."

Taking careful notes, the captain asked about
the size of her farm, her crop
programme and her title deeds. He visited the squatters who occupy Mrs Campbell's land and warned them not to
interfere with the daily rhythms of the farm. The soldiers departed with a polite
"goodbye".

When Vice-President Joseph Msika announced on
Monday that 2,237 more white farms had
been identified for acquisition, the purpose of the mysterious visits was suddenly explained. The soldiers had been on
a deliberately low-key
intelligence-gathering operation. Mrs Campbell said: "They were just identifying more properties for their list.
But they were so pleasant."

HARARE - President Robert Mugabe's
political and economic critics vented their anger at Zimbabwe's slide toward
anarchy on Wednesday with a largely peaceful one-day strike that paralyzed the
country. Shops and factories were closed and streets deserted in the three major
cities - Harare, Bulawayo and Masvingo - as farmers, workers and the political
opposition delivered the most broadly based challenge yet to Mugabe's 20-year
rule. Mugabe made no public appearances on Wednesday, but spent part of the day
in talks with visiting South African President Thabo Mbeki, who has said his
country will help Zimbabwe recover from its deep economic crisis. ``This visit
is in line with the commitment that the South African government made earlier
this year to support the Zimbabwean government,'' a South African spokeswoman
said.

Police said they arrested several youths
who laid rock barricades across roads in dormitory townships around Harare. In
Norton, about 40 km (25 miles) west of the capital, police arrested two men who
tried to take over a white-owned farm, but then looked on as a bigger mob of
self-styled war veterans brandishing automatic weapons arrived to take
possession of the farm and threatened reporters interviewing farm staff. The
strike came a day after Mugabe's new finance minister, former businessman Simba
Makoni, bowed to market pressure and devalued the Zimbabwe dollar by 24 percent
to 50 to the U.S. dollar. The unit trades informally at 60 to the U.S. dollar.
Market analysts said the devaluation would encourage exports and boost
desperately low foreign reserves, which would help farmers and manufacturers
import necessary supplies and relieve a persistent fuel crisis.

The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions
(ZCTU) called the strike to protest against political intimidation and the
occupation of hundreds of white-owned farms by self-styled veterans of the
former Rhodesia's 1970s liberation war. The strike was backed by the opposition
MDC and the mainly white CFU, who said nothing was being done to rein in
government supporters angry at their ZANU-PF party's poor showing in
parliamentary elections in June. The MDC, highlighting the near collapse of
Zimbabwe's economy, won 57 seats to the ruling party's 62 as ZANU-PF targeted
the white domination of productive farmland. In contrast with their usually
heavy-handed response to strikes, police operated only small patrols and
soldiers were not in evidence as the country ground to a halt on
Wednesday.

Chief Superintendent Wayne Bvudzijena told
Reuters: ``We have not heard of any major incidents on farms. There were two or
three incidents in Harare townships where people put stones on the road and
police dealt with that.'' A CFU spokesman said the Norton incident was the only
one reported during the day. ``We hope the police will handle the case
professionally. Overall, the reports we have are that it was mostly quiet on the
farms, with many on strike,'' the spokesman said. Acting ZCTU president Isaac
Matongo said only civil servants turned up for work, after being warned the
strike could cost them their jobs. "The indications we have are that the call
for a work stoppage has been heeded. We estimate 80 to 90 percent of the people
did not go to work,'' he told Reuters.

A government spokesman said, however, the
strike was a flop with civil servants including teachers and nurses at work.
``Factories and private industry would have been functioning if employers had
not locked out their workers. The so-called strike is a flop. Those who have not
gone to work have not done so voluntarily,'' said the spokesman, who asked not
to be named. The government has said the strike could further damage the already
battered economy and increase unemployment. Zimbabwe National Chamber of
Commerce chief executive Wonder Maisiri told Reuters the strike could not be
separated from the current political environment, adding: ``The strike is
costly, but so is the political environment that has caused it.''

From News24, 3
August

Zimbabwe grinds to a
halt

Harare - Banks, factories and farms shut down in Zimbabwe on
Wednesday as a general strike got under way to protest at government seizures of
white-owned farms, which have sparked violence in the crucial agriculture
sector. The protest against violence and intimidation on white-owned farms
occupied by liberation war veterans and their supporters has drawn "very
effective" support in the northern Mashonaland Central Province, regional farm
union director Malcolm Vowles told AFP. In the farming district of Marondera
east of Harare, Steve Pratt of the CFU, which represents some 4 00 white
farmers, said the area was "dead quiet" with just a handful of businesses and
one petrol station open. In the capital Harare, most banks and many large stores
were closed and riot police were deployed in the streets. A military helicopter
was seen over-flying the city early in the day.

The ZCTU expressed satisfaction at the initial response to the
one-day strike. Isaac Matongo, ZCTU's acting president, said after travelling
across the capital and to neighbouring towns that it appeared many people had
heeded the call. "Where I am here, in the industrial sites, nobody is working,"
he told AFP from his mobile phone. "But you know you can't get 100 percent, but
if you get 70 percent that's super." He described the atmosphere in the poor
black townships - where the army has been accused of beating people in the
aftermath of the June elections - as calm on Wednesday morning. "There is no
violence in the townships, the atmosphere is very calm, and I have not heard of
any incidents of violence," he said. He said people had stayed at home, and only
riot police were seen in the streets. "It's actually the police that are
struggling, because there is nobody to beat," he said.

Matongo said reports he received from the eastern border town of Mutare
showed that many workers had responded well, with all the public commuter buses
reportedly grounded. Matongo said Tuesday that the strike would serve as a
"warning" to the government, which has not intervened to stop intimidation and
attacks on farmers and labourers by liberation war veterans occupying hundreds
of white-owned farms since February. The information ministry said early
Wednesday that people were going about their business as usual. The CFU's Vowles
said that in Mashonaland Central, "there are attempts by some war veterans to
force farm workers to work." Noting that the occupiers had been bent on
preventing work on the farms in efforts to disrupt operations, he said: "It's
quite ironic." The action called by the ZCTU is the first since two strikes over
deteriorating economic conditions brought the country to a standstill - and
troops to the streets - in 1998.

From The Star (SA), 2 August

Streets of Harare deserted as strike sets
in

Harare - Shops and factories were closed
and streets deserted in Harare on Wednesday as workers began a general strike to
demand an end to political violence and the occupation of white-owned farms.
Farmers, industrial workers, businesses and the political opposition backed the
one-day stoppage called by the ZCTU, making it the most broadly based challenge
yet to President Robert Mugabe's 20-year rule. Groups of police armed with
automatic rifles patrolled some bus stations and stood on street corners in
Harare, but there was no sign of a major police or military intervention. At 8am
(0600 GMT), the centre of the capital was deserted with only a few staff
gathering outside two supermarkets waiting to see whether they would open. In
the Willowdale industrial area on the outskirts of Harare factories remained
closed and streets were deserted. The Kambuzuma, Warren Park and Kuwazana
dormitory townships were quiet with small numbers of people boarding buses and
taxis to the city. In the Mazowe district farm workers stayed in their housing
units and there was no sign of workers in the fields at 7:30am when work usually
is well under way.

The mainly white CFU and the MDC, which
delivered a strong challenge in the June election, backed the call, saying
Zimbabwe was close to anarchy. Zimbabwe's government has condemned the strike as
unnecessary and warned it will sack all public service workers joining it. But
it said it would only move to protect those who wanted to work rather than
intervene to prevent strike action. The ZCTU on Tuesday reduced the duration of
the strike from three days to one, saying it would act as a warning shot against
Mugabe's government. He is being urged to order an end to the intimidation of
his political opponents and to order self-styled war veterans to leave
white-owned farms occupied in the run-up to the elections.

From News24 (SA), 2
August

Business at standstill in
Bulawayo

Bulawayo - Business came to a halt in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe's
second city, as tens of thousands of workers joined a general strike to protest
the government's violence-ridden land grabs. "We have shut down because we are
also concerned with the breakdown of law and order on the farms," said Joseph
Moyo, a local businessman. Banks, offices, factories and shops, with the
exception of a few food outlets, in the southwestern city were closed. Some
business owners said they closed in solidarity with the unions, while others
said they closed out of fear of violence or intimidation directed at their
employees by supporters of the stayaway.

Most public transport vehicles were empty except those leaving
the city centre as people appeared to be heading home after finding their
companies were shut. All higher education establishments were closed as both
lecturers and students joined the protest. Some schools were open, although most
teachers stayed away. Hopewell Gumpo, head of the president of the Zimbabwe
National Students Union, said: "We as the student movement have no other option
but to engage in the peaceful protest together with the labor body and other
civic organisations because we condemn the heavy-handedness of the police and
the army in parts of Harare." He added: "We demand among other issues a
transparent land redistribution program to the landless in a peaceful and
orderly manner." Government offices were deserted barring a few civil servants.
It was business as usual however for hospitals. Police were deployed at
strategic points across the city, but by mid-morning no incidents of violence or
intimidation were reported.

From The Mail & Guardian (SA), 2
August

Zim farms shut down to protest land
grab

Harare - Farms across Zimbabwe shut down on Wednesday in
protest over lawlessness sparked by government seizures of white-owned farmland
as workers showed their solidarity by joining a general strike called by the
unions. Banks, major consumer outlets and factories shut down at the call of the
powerful labour movement to protest government seizures of white-owned farms,
which have sparked violence in the crucial agriculture sector. It was business
as usual however in government offices both in the capital and in other cities
such as Chinhoyi and Marondera, state radio said, while in Bulawayo few civil
servants turned up to work.

The political opposition, civic organizations, and white
commercial farmers are all backing the strike organized by the ZCTU. The
governor of northern Mashonaland East Province, Peter Chanetsa, slammed the
stayaway, telling state radio it "revealed who is sponsoring the opposition and
the ZCTU. Land redistribution is to go ahead despite the strike." He added that
resettlements in his province would begin on Thursday. Months of lawlessness on
occupied farms have disrupted the commercial agriculture sector, Zimbabwe's
principal employer and a vital component of the economy - employing 26 percent
of the labor force and contributing 15.7% of gross domestic product.
Agricultural exports, particularly tobacco, bring in desperately needed foreign
exchange.

The protest against violence and intimidation on white-owned
farms â€“ some 1 600 of which have been occupied by liberation war veterans and
their supporters since February - has drawn support across the farming
community. The shutdown was "very effective" in the northern Mashonaland Central
Province, according to regional farm union director Malcolm Vowles. In the
farming district of Marondera east of Harare, Steve Pratt of the CFU, which
represents some 4 500 white farmers, said the area was "dead quiet" with just a
handful of businesses and one petrol station open. "There have been a number of
threats in the past few days that if the stayaway goes ahead there will be
repercussions, but as yet it hasn't occurred," he said, adding "touch wood".
Journalists travelling through northeastern Mashonaland East Province said they
saw no farming activity. The owner of a tobacco farm said operations were
reduced to essential services such as watering seedbeds and sending out people
to search for rustled cattle. The capital Harare was quiet, with most banks and
many large stores closed while riot police patrolled the streets.

Meanwhile President Robert Mugabe, flanked by his entire
cabinet, was on hand to greet visiting South African President Thabo Mbeki at
the airport, which was functioning normally. About 100 ruling party supporters
and war veterans chanted revolutionary songs to greet the South African
delegation, in the country to discuss ways to help Zimbabwe overcome its
economic crisis. Mugabe has not commented publicly on the strike, nor to a
direct appeal for urgent intervention lodged a week ago by the
CFU.

Thursday, August 3 1:41 AM SGT Zimbabwe land invaders to be resettled this month: Mugabe

HARARE, Aug 2 (AFP) -
Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe said Wednesday that thousands of people illegally occupying hundreds of commercial farms will be resettled by the end of the month.

"Within this month we will have concluded this exercise" of moving the liberation war veterans and other landless blacks on the farms to land appropriated by the government, Mugabe told a press conference following talks with South African President Thabo Mbeki.

The statement was the first public one Mugabe has made on the land crisis since he officially opened parliament on July 20, and coincided with a nationwide general strike called to protest at lawlessness on occupied farms, which the government has done little to halt.

Thousands of war veterans and their supporters have invaded some 1,600 white-owned farms since February, with at least four white farmers killed and an unknown number of black farmworkers beaten in the ensuing violence.

Zimbabweans strike to protest land occupations

By Kurt Shillinger, Globe Correspondent, 8/3/2000

JOHANNESBURG - President Robert Mugabe's foes, bolstered by their gains in elections in June, shut down Zimbabwe's hobbled economy yesterday in a nationwide strike to protest government-sponsored violence.

The work stoppage, the broadest such action in two decades, confirmed the arrival of a new era of grass-roots activism against the corruption, thuggery, and economic mismanagement that critics say have become hallmarks of Mugabe's rule. Shop lathes and field tractors sat idle through cities and rural districts as workers and farmers demonstrated their opposition to the illegal occupation of commercial farms by Mugabe's supporters and the government's unexplained deployment of elite military forces in urban townships.

Mugabe, meeting with visiting South African President Thabo Mbeki to discuss Zimbabwe's economic crisis, made no comment about the labor stoppage. Other government officials shrugged off the action, saying that factory bosses and farmers forced their workers off the job.

But independent observers said that widespread participation - trade-union leaders estimated up to 90 percent of workers laid down their tools - underscored the depth of dissatisfaction with Mugabe's rule, even among traditional supporters.

''The opposition is on to something very powerful,'' said John Robertson, an economist based in Harare, the capital. Expelling Mugabe ''won't be quick, but the people are sending a message to the government: Their patience has reached the limit.''

The strike came one day after the government announced a long-delayed devaluation of Zimbabwe's currency, from 38 ZimDollars to 50 against the US dollar.

The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions, acting in concert with the predominantly white Commercial Farmers' Union and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, called the strike to protest widespread political intimidation. Zimbabwe's current season of fear started six months ago when government supporters, led by veterans of the 1970s liberation war against colonialism, began seizing white-owned farms.

Courts ruled the invasions illegal, but Mugabe encouraged the land grab, saying it was justified by the racial imbalance left over from colonial days. Two decades after independence, 4,000 whites own much of the country's most arable land, while the black rural masses remain impoverished.

More than 1,300 farms were invaded and 31 people died in political violence ahead of the June vote. Hopes that the violence would end with the election were quickly dashed when Mugabe, smarting from his party's first serious losses, deployed his elite Presidential Guard into high-density suburbs - strongholds of the opposition. The government has never explained the move, but incidents of intimidation, including beatings, occur daily.

Labor and farming leaders vow to continue pressuring the government until the troops are called back to their barracks and the squatters leave the farms.

The opposition, meanwhile, has begun testing its leverage in parliament. The Movement for Democratic Change, which took nearly half of the elected seats in parliament, is contesting at least 31 seats and demanding the government reestablish the rule of law and address corruption.

A survey released Tuesday by the University of Zimbabwe showed that 47 of the 62 elected members of parliament from Mugabe's party have been implicated in corruption scandals and face possible investigation.

NORTON, Zimbabwe, Aug. 2 -- The parliamentary elections are over, but in the rustling fields, black squatters are still occupying a thousand white-owned farms. And even the governing party acknowledges that "criminal elements" have been causing havoc on some farms.

Today, the opposition alliance of black union members and white business owners brought the nation to a standstill as thousands of black employees stayed home from work, and white industrialists shut banks and stores to protest the farm invasions.

President Robert Mugabe, whose party won a narrow majority in Parliament a month ago, buoyed by his promise to redistribute land, has refused to remove the squatters, despite several court orders.

But he seemed to bow to the pressure today. He said the squatters would leave most farms in a month, as the government completes its redistribution plan. "We will, in the process, be removing all war veterans from the rest of the farms that will not be resettled," Mr. Mugabe said at a news conference. "The time frame? I cannot be that exact. But certainly I want to say within this month."

But here, on a sprawling tobacco farm an hour from the capital, there is no sign of change. Squatters armed with machetes disturb the uneasy peace. And it seems increasingly clear that Mr. Mugabe is willing to do whatever is necessary to remake the hated colonial map that left the tiny white minority in control of more than half the country's fertile land.

This week, government officials stunned the white farmers' union and foreign donors with an announcement that they would soon redistribute more than 3,000 white-owned farms, half the white commercial farm land, to 500,000 peasant families.

"You're living in a state of anarchy," said Bob Sherriffs, 33, whose family farm here has been occupied by black squatters and earmarked for acquisition. "You're living in a state of fear. One minute you feel it will all come right. The next minute you feel, 'Is there any hope for us?' "

Officials close to Mr. Mugabe said he was focused on his legacy, determined to go down in history as the liberation hero, as the man who wrested the land from the whites, who make up less than 2 percent of the population, and returned it to the blacks. So this time, the squatters on the farm here did not disappear after the election. They came back in bare feet and fraying clothes, determined to sleep at the foot of Mr. Sherriffs's family property until they had their own piece of land.

The adversaries, white and black, stood side by side, with Mr. Sherriffs on one side and the squatters on the other, with everyone smiling their polite good mornings in the awkward détente that has become an accepted daily ritual.

Zarimba Zarimba, 24, a squatter who has been living on the farm since April, said he believed that the battle would soon be over. Soon, he said, the whites will return the land that was stolen from his ancestors decades ago. Soon, he said, he will be tilling his own potatoes, tobacco and corn. He hopes the transfer will be peaceful, he added, but he is ready to fight.

"The nation wants land," Mr. Zarimba said. "We will not leave until we are all satisfied."

The pointed outrage of the white farmers and the steely determination of government officials often mask a complicated reality. High-ranking officials at the white farmers' union are well aware that the 3,000 farms represent two million acres of land, the very acreage of underused land that the union and Western donors have agreed should be given over to landless peasants.

Although the farmers have serious concerns about whether the farms were properly selected, Westerners say union officials have repeatedly promised and failed to deliver their own list of underused farms.

Mr. Mugabe, on the other hand, likes to fault whites for the slow pace of land reform while his government has lacked the will, the capacity and the cash to make redistribution a reality. Over the years, his promises of speedy redistribution were viewed as hollow campaign pledges that ushered in the start of each election season and faded out after the votes had been counted.

But now, after 20 years in power, Mr. Mugabe, 76, seems to feel a sense of urgency. He has watched his popularity plummet. In June, his party lost its overwhelming dominance in Parliament for the first time since 1980, when the nation voted in a new opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change.

Today, he watched the capital become a ghost town as ordinary citizens ignored the state-controlled media's call for people to report to work.

Mr. Mugabe has been taking several steps to respond to his critics. This week, the government finally devalued the Zimbabwe dollar, a move that was quickly applauded. Last month, Mr. Mugabe formed a cabinet that now includes several highly respected business leaders.

Also today, Mr. Mugabe gave President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa assurances that the government would deal with the lawlessness on the farms. "It's a matter that we discussed," said Mr. Mbeki, who was visiting Mr. Mugabe and said he believed that the issue would be resolved.

Mr. Mbeki has heard that promise before. In April, Mr. Mugabe told Mr. Mbeki that he would bring an end to the violence on the farms. In fact, the violence intensified and further alienated Western donors, who are desperately needed to rescue the flailing economy.

Mugabe turnaround disappoints critics
Reuters - Aug 3 2000 11:51AM ET

HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe denied Thursday that he had given any pledge to force an end to illegal farm invasions and even held out the prospect of further extending his land grab program.

After seeming Wednesday to be ready to compromise, Mugabe's return to a hard line dashed hopes of an economic and political turnaround in the southern African country.

``A president who denies something within 24 hours of saying it does not cheer the market,'' one Harare economist told Reuters after Mugabe told black farmers he still supported the illegal land grab started in February.

``He's kind of added to the general gloom. Investors love some predictability and Mr. Mugabe is handing them the opposite,'' the economist said.

Mugabe had announced after talks with South African President Thabo Mbeki Wednesday that liberation-war veterans who began seizing white farms in February would be moved off the farms by the end of this month.

The statement had been welcomed by Zimbabwe's mainly white commercial farmers and its hard-pressed financial markets, but Mugabe denied Thursday he had ever agreed to end the land grab, saying: ``I didn't say war veterans should be removed.''

Mugabe reaffirmed his intention to take more than 3,000 farms from white owners without compensation for the value of the land and added: ``Whatever we do after the 3,000 farms will be purely complementary, but we are not stopping there.''

Chenjerai Hunzvi, leader of the liberation war veterans who staged the land grab with Mugabe's outspoken support, told Reuters they would stay put, but would not take more farms.

``All war veterans and our landless people on the farms will remain where they are and will not move to any other unoccupied farms, which are not among the 3,000 announced by the national chairman of the Land Acquisition Committee,'' he said.

The opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), which supported a paralyzing one-day strike against Mugabe Wednesday, said his contradictory comments were the first shots in his campaign for a presidential election in 2002.

``It confirms what we have always said, that the president is a populist who says one thing at night and another thing in the morning,'' said MDC Secretary-General Welshman Ncube.

``For him to repudiate what he publicly said, monitored by television and radio, shows that he wants to perpetuate the crisis. He wants war veterans to remain on the farms until another election, in 18 months time,'' he said.

The farm invasions, which have hobbled the country's crucial agriculture industry, along with Zimbabwe's participation in a civil war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, have driven the country's economy to the brink of collapse.

With foreign reserves down to about one day's imports, unemployment at 50 percent, inflation at 60 percent and interest rates around 70 percent, the country is in deep recession.

Political violence unleashed by supporters of the ruling ZANU-PF ahead of parliamentary elections in June and Mugabe's anti-white rhetoric have compounded investor concerns.

MUGABE DISMISSES STRIKE MESSAGE

Mugabe lashed out at white ``imperialists'' and scoffed at the nationwide general strike that paralyzed the country, saying it ``was a producer strike ... and it wasn't popular.''

The strike was called by the country's major labor federation, with backing from the Commercial Farmers Union and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, to press demands for a return to law and order and an end to farm invasions.

Mugabe said he was not afraid of any person or country, adding: ``We can never allow a return to racial oppression. Our land is, to us, first. The donors can stay with their money. We will not give up our land because of what the donors say.''

Donors including the International Monetary Fund and most foreign governments have suspended aid and credit in protest against violence and mismanagement in Zimbabwe.

Mbeki has been heavily criticized for his kid-gloves handling of Zimbabwe's veteran president and has seen his own country's currency hammered by investors fearing South Africa could go the same way as Zimbabwe.

While in Zimbabwe, Mbeki dodged a welcoming hug from Mugabe and spent five hours urging him to end political intimidation by his followers and the occupation of white-owned farms.

``South Africa committed itself to help in any way it can to implement a program for Zimbabwe's economic recovery and to restore Zimbabwe's image abroad,'' said one South African government source.

``There is a lot of movement that needs to be made by the Zimbabwe government. What we basically need to do is to encourage them,'' the source said.

There was no immediate comment from South Africa on Mugabe's apparent repudiation of the concessions he made Wednesday.

HARARE, Aug 3 (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's war veterans held 17 white farmers hostage overnight after they had answered a distress call from another farmer near the capital Harare, a farmers' union official said on Thursday.

The 16 men and one woman were released unharmed on Thursday morning after talks between Commercial Farmers' Union (CFU) representatives and the veterans, Tim Henwood, the CFU president, told Reuters.

``We went there and tried to smooth things out. It seems there was a misunderstanding. The war veterans thought the farmers had come to attack them,'' Henwood said.

One of the hostages, who asked not to be named, said the 17 farmers had responded to an alarm raised by one of their colleagues, who said he was being forced to leave his farm by a group of war veterans on Wednesday.

``When we arrived, a group of 40 war veterans came armed with axes, machetes, hoes and other weapons and ordered us to leave, that we should take one car and leave all others behind. We refused and that's when things turned nasty,'' he said.

``They punctured 10 to 12 of our vehicles and we were slapped around, and they said we had to leave. We were held here overnight. We shared a fire with the veterans and slept in cars,'' the farmer told Reuters by telephone.

The country was brought to a virtual standstill on Wednesday by a strike called to press Mugabe to end political intimidation and the occupation of white-owned farms.

``The situation is very tense. They (veterans) are friendly one minute and very hostile the next,'' the farmer.

Veterans of the 1970s war to liberate the former Rhodesia from British rule and supporters of President Robert Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF party have occupied hundreds of white-owned farms.

The farm occupations and violence linked to June parliamentary elections have resulted in at least 31 deaths.

In another incident on Wednesday, a dozen war veterans armed with automatic rifles stormed a white-owned farm at Norton, 40 km (25 miles) from Harare, and threatened a manager and a secretary who had talked to reporters about farm invasions.

``In the past, promises have not been followed by delivery, and there has been a wide gap between public statements and what eventually happens on the ground,'' Commercial Farmers Union director David Hasluck told Reuters.

Mugabe, appearing to bow to pressure from visiting South African President Thabo Mbeki, Wednesday promised to remove self-styled war veterans occupying close to 1,000 white-owned farms by the end of August.

At least 31 people including five farmers died in violence linked to the occupation of white-owned farms in the run-up to parliamentary elections in June.

Many of the farms are still under the control of veterans backed by Mugabe, making farming difficult or impossible.

Zimbabwe's weary financial markets remained subdued, but analysts said Mugabe's statement combined with Tuesday's decision to devalue the Zimbabwe dollar by 24 percent to 50 to the U.S. dollar could be signs of hope.

``It's quite a positive start in that the president has never said anything like that before,'' Sagit Stockbrokers analyst Nyasha Chasakara told Reuters.

``But the market right now is not looking for talk, they want to see concrete action being taken to resolve the land issue,'' she said.

A trader with a commercial bank said the market was still preoccupied with the details of Tuesday's devaluation, but added that Mugabe's announcement ``does send hope that maybe now we might start seeing meaningful production resuming on the farms.''

In an interview published by the independent Financial Gazette newspaper Thursday, new Home Affairs Minister John Nkomo said police were ready to deal with rogue elements amongst the veterans who were ignoring orders to vacate farms.

Nkomo said past police inaction had been caused by different statements emanating from various government departments.

``The government will arrest all independence war veterans who are harassing commercial farmers or parceling out farms that they illegally occupy,'' the weekly quoted Nkomo as saying.

Morgan Tzvangirai, leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), said Mugabe's announcement was a response to pressure from his opponents.

``We welcome this development...He realizes that his actions in supporting farm occupations were not sustainable. It is obvious our pressure and international pressure is working.

``Mugabe is isolated and knows he has no other options. He cannot talk of restoring confidence in the economy and encouraging investment in the absence of law and order. Mugabe did not have any other choice, really,'' Tsvangirai told Reuters.

MDC Secretary-General Welshman Ncube added: ``If indeed the exercise will be completed by the end of the month, then this is positive news.

``Mugabe is bowing to the blunt message from Zimbabweans and the international community, including our neighbors South Africa, that he must take action to restore the rule of law if this country's economy has to start on the path of recovery,'' he said.

HARARE (Reuters) - President Robert Mugabe said after an anti-government strike that paralyzed Zimbabwe Wednesday he would remove war veterans illegally occupying white-owned farms before the end of the month.

Mugabe told reporters at a news conference he would go ahead with the resettlement of landless blacks on farms seized from whites in terms of a constitutional amendment pushed through parliament earlier this year.

But he said self-styled veterans of the former Rhodesia's 1970s liberation war would be removed from farms not targeted for resettlement.

``In other words, we will, in the process, be removing all war veterans from the rest of the farms that will not be resettled. I want to say, within this month we will have concluded this exercise,'' Mugabe said.

Shops and factories were closed and streets deserted in the three major cities -- Harare, Bulawayo and Masvingo -- as farmers, workers and the political opposition delivered the most broadly based challenge yet to Mugabe's 20-year rule.

Civil servants who had been warned they would be fired if they joined the stoppage appeared to be about the only people who did not heed a Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) call for a strike against lawlessness and the farm occupations.

Police arrested eight youths for interrupting traffic and trying to force compliance with the strike and reported isolated incidents of stoning of cars.

In Norton, west of Harare, a mob of war veterans armed with semi-automatic rifles seized a farm and threatened reporters trying to interview the farm manager and secretary.

FARMERS TAKE GOVERNMENT TO COURT

White farmers went to court at the end of the day to challenge Mugabe's plan to seize more than 3,000 farms for redistribution.

``We have launched a court challenge in the Supreme Court questioning the whole constitutional base on which the government is proceeding on the issue of land acquisition,'' said Commercial Farmers Union (CFU) director David Hasluck.

``We are not seeking to obstruct the land redistribution process because we know that a proper scheme is essential for the country's social and economic stability,'' he told Reuters.

But he said the CFU objected to the coercive way the redistribution program was being handled.

Mugabe's government, narrowly re-elected in June, announced Monday it planned to seize 3,041 white-owned farms -- compared with 804 under a previous plan -- with compensation only for buildings.

It was not clear whether Mugabe was referring to the 200 farms already in government hands, the 804 specifically identified for resettlement or the new figure of more than 3,000 farms when he said resettlement would be completed in August.

The 3,000 farms comprise about half the 12 million hectares of commercial farmland owned by about 4,500 white farmers.

Mugabe spent part of the day in talks with visiting South African President Thabo Mbeki, who said after the meeting he was confident Zimbabwe would restore law and order.

Officials said South Africa was looking at ways to help Zimbabwe recover from deep recession and regain the confidence of Western donors and financial institutions.

With foreign exchange reserves estimated at around one day's imports, unemployment at 50 percent, inflation at 60 percent and interest rates around 70 percent, Zimbabwe is facing its worst economic crisis since independence in 1980.

In the first apparent concession to market demands and international criticism, Mugabe's new finance minister, former businessman Simba Makoni, devalued the Zimbabwe dollar by 24 percent Tuesday, taking it to 50 to the U.S. dollar. The unit trades informally at 60 to the dollar.

Market analysts said the devaluation would encourage exports and boost foreign reserves, which would help farmers and manufacturers and relieve a persistent fuel crisis.

STRIKE HAS POLITICAL AND LABOR BACKING

Wednesday's strike was backed by the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and the mainly white CFU, who say nothing is being done to rein in government supporters angry at their ZANU-PF party's poor showing in the June election.

The MDC, who highlighted the near collapse of Zimbabwe's economy, won 57 seats to the ruling party's 62 as ZANU-PF targeted the white domination of productive farmland.

In contrast with their usually heavy-handed response to strikes, police operated only small patrols and soldiers were not in evidence as the country ground to a halt Wednesday.

``The government is under great scrutiny at home and internationally, and I think there was a realization in this case that a heavy-handed approach would not do it good,'' said University of Zimbabwe political analyst Alfred Nhema.

Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe has pledged to end the illegal occupation of
white-owned farms by the end of this month.

Mugabe gave the promise to a
news conference after five hours of talks with South African President Thabo
Mbeki, reports the Daily News in Zimbabwe.

It is the first time he has
given a time frame for the end of the action.

It also follows a one-day
strike, in protest against the farm occupations, which brought much of the
country to a standstill.

Mugabe says he will go ahead with the
resettlement of landless blacks on confiscated white farms but says war veterans
currently occupying about 1,000 white-owned farms will be removed from those not
targeted for resettlement.

"I am sure you are aware now that there is a
process of acquiring land as per the amended law," Mugabe said.

"We will
be resettling those who are in need of the land, both those on the farms, who
have invaded the farms, and those who have not done so in the communal areas and
elsewhere.

"We will, in the process, be removing all war veterans from
the farms that are not earmarked for resettlement. The time frame I cannot
really say, but certainly I want to say it will be within this
month."

War veterans' leader Andrew Ndlovu has refused to comment on the
removal of the former freedom fighters from the farms.

"The President
must tell us first of what is going to happen and we can only give you our
response after meeting him," Ndlovu said.